The act of sex is one that has puzzled philosophers for centuries and for good reason. It is a complicated subject that has had many different definitions and parameters throughout history. Alan Goldman holds that “sexual desire is the desire for contact with another person’s body and for the pleasure which such contact produces; sexual activity is activity which tends to fulfill such desire of the agent” (Soble, 83). Greta Christina, through her many personal experiences and multiple re-examinations of her supposed sexual encounters, does not think she or anyone else can truly define what is sex (Christina, 26-30). In a different angle, Alan Soble has difficulty producing an accurate, all-encompassing definition of masturbation, despite six attempts (79-82). These three great minds, and many …show more content…
I hold that sex should be defined as actions involving the genitalia performed with consent to all parties involved and that all masturbation is sex but not all sex is masturbation. Genitalia (primary sexual characteristics such as the vulva, clitoris, penis, testes, and prostate) is the defining factor in my definition because if an encounter does not involve at least one piece of genitalia, most people would not consider it sex. A man sensually rubbing his lover’s earlobe would not be considered sex in most societies. Neither, then, would a woman sucking on her significant other’s toe be considered sex. Both examples lack genitalia. Also for my definition, I do consider the anus to be genitalia, if only because the male prostate is best (or at least most commonly) stimulated through the anus. As such, to say the male anus is genitalia because of access to the prostate but the female anus is not because there is no similar organ is illogical, and because of the close proximity to the
At the beginning of the 1900s, there was a “sexual revolution” in New York City. During this time, sexual acts and desires were not hidden, but instead they were openl...
Since the dawn of man, sex has played a crucial role in society. Before they learned to read or write humans were engaging in sex and without it none of us would be here. In today’s society, sex has grown to become much more complicated. If I were to ask a group of people on the street what they believed sex was? I bet they would have a hard time answering. The question puzzling society today is how do we define sex? Can we define sex? These are questions raised in Tracy Steele’s article “Doing it: The Social Construction of S-E-X”. This article is about the current questions and issues that have been raised about sex within today’s society. In this paper I will summarize the key points of the article, while sharing my own thoughts and opinions of Steele’s findings.
Francis Bennion has criticised the Act for this semantic ambiguity whilst acknowledging that too narrow a definition may tie the courts' hands in the application of the law. Sexual can be defined a simply 'of or pertaining to the sexual organs' which would render certain medical examinations sexual activities at the very least. Clearly the Act intended that in interpretation juries and judges would use the relevant cultural 'cache' in deciding the sexuality of an act. Intending to gratify oneself in a sexual manner seems to be closest thing to a criminal definition of 'sexual' yet neither gratification nor desire are mentioned anywhere in the relevant provisions.
Hooking up, and consent for a sufficient basis for sex that fosters human flourishing is moral based on how society has accepted its norms. Sex is a basic norm for today's society, being that new generations are engaging into the world, sex is no longer a hidden object. Hooking up is moral based on the acceptance of society, no one keeps it hidden anymore. The dating life, sex scene, and even your sexual preference is something that is more broad on life, which is why I argue that hooking up is moral. Acceptance is the key of hooking up, in today's society we do not get mad at those who are hooking up its more of a “to each is own” type of thing, which is why hooking up is both moral and the norm of society. In addition, the consent on sex
In the article “An Anthropological Look at Human Sexuality” the authors, Patrick Gray and Linda Wolfe speak about how societies look at human sexuality. The core concept of anthology is the idea of culture, the systems of attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors people acquire as a member of society. The authors give an in depth analysis on how human sexuality is looked at in all different situations.
The medicalization of sex addiction demonstrates the lengths at which medical authority will go to inject another fabricated disease into the blood of society. While alleged sex addictions have existed for many years, they have only recently been accepted as valid excuses for sexual deviancy. Attitudes toward sex addiction in the past offer a stark contrast to how it is viewed today, as the constantly medicalizing society insists on putting everything under the technical microscope. Sex addiction is commonly associated with a person’s inability to control his sexual behavior, implying an abnormally high sex drive and obsession with sex which have negative effects on his personal life (MedicineNet 2007, 1). Rather than breaking down the science behind the disorder, a customary practice in today’s medicalized society, older attitudes towards sex addiction placed it under the same light as alcoholism, where a lack of control and unwillin... ...
References to Kurt Freund’s studies to “assess sexual arousal in men and women” and Alfred Kinsey’s “sexual orientation” scale are made to further explain how sexuality and asexuality are not solid concepts with strict definitions of their own but rather more multifarious. For
Lee, H. & Shimizu, C. (2004). Sex acts: Two meditations on race and sexuality. Signs: Journal
Unlike sex, the history of sexuality is dependant upon society and limited by its language in order to be defined and understood.
Foucault, M. (1978). The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1: An Introduction. New York: Vintage Books.
Masturbation is such a simple concept, yet the controversy over the topic is discussed freely amongst many philosophers. Although the word itself has many definitions, Alan Soble, Alan Goldman, Robert Solomon, and Thomas Nagel all have their own takes of the matter. Finally, in this essay, I will highlight the philosophical opinion of masturbation and the negative connotation it also possesses. Alan Soble defines masturbation as a person who manually rubs the penis or clitoris, in private, until the final orgasm. There were many different attempts at defining masturbation, but Soble could not fully agree with them all because they were flawed.
Before Alfred Kinsey’s research, the social norms on sex were much different than they are today. In the 1940’s and 50’s sex was a topic that was too taboo to talk about. Supposedly, no one engaged in pre-marital sex, oral intercourse, anal intercourse, or any type of homosexual relations. Almost anything sexually related was seen as wrong. Intercourse was only to be used to reproduce. Even then, ‘the stork’ brought the babies or they were grown in ‘cabbage patches’. This thought may have started with Queen Victoria, when asked about her thoughts on pregnancy after having 9 children of her own, stated the she hated the idea of pregnancy. Women were also supposed to stay true to the Cult of True Womenhood and be pure for their husband. Homophobia
Here, the distinction is made between the physiological aspect of sex and the meanings inscribed in it. In this discussion, Merleau-Ponty is referenced in explaining that the body continually realizes a set of possibilities. In framing the body in such a manner, one does not merely have or one is not merely a body – one “does” one’s body. However, there is a constraint to these possibilities made by historical conventions. What this means is that when Merleau-Ponty and Beauvoir claim that the body is a historical situation, the body does three things with that historical situation: it does it, dramatizes it, and reproduces it. These can be seen as the elementary structures of embodiment. This embodiment can then be viewed specifically from the perspective of the act of gender. Gender can then be understood differently from the biological sex as gender has a cultural interpretation that is used as a strategy for cultural survival. In its deep entrenchment, gender seems almost natural in the punishments that arise from deviating from acting in a way that creates the very idea of
What is sex and sexuality, and how would I define it? Sex seems to be a subject that society is becoming a little less shy to talk about. It should be an openly topic we could talk about, yes it is a personal act, but many young people have questions and wonders about sex. Sex is the act of two people engaging in sexual intercourse. That is my definition of sex, but sex has different definitions and meanings depending on who the person is. Sexuality as I stated above, is the discovering your identity, figuring out who you are. Sexuality consist of procreation, love, pleasure, and indentity. (Laack 1) Sex and sexuality are closley realated to each other, you get one with the other. Sexuality is a state of confusion for many teenagers they not sure about what is going on with their emotion, their hormones are flying in every direction possible. Another thing we should discuss about things that are common among teenagers, is masturbati...
DeLamater, J. & Hyde, J. (1998). Essentialism vs. social constructionism in the study of human sexuality. Journal Of Sex Research, 35(1), 10-18.